Our stay at Bend continued on until Madelyn and Geoff arrived on Friday and we had dinner together at Patrice and Norms place. Great fun, many tales, some tall, were told and we finally left and turned in with plans for more fun on Saturday. 

Saturday we continued to enjoy Deschutes Brewing’s 30th birthday  with a couple of groups in Drake Park – leaving with 4 more hours of music being offered, but we headed out to Sunriver Resort for different music – 60’s Rock in honor of the resorts 50th anniversary. 

Sunday we moved on having scored a site at Port of Newport Marina and RV Park for two nights. Getting there we completed a drive on a new to us section of US 20 from Bend to Newport. This leaves Bend to Yellowstone and Illinois sections of US 20 for us to complete driving the entire route. We have already driven US 1, 15 and US 90 completely. We find this is a way to explore areas we might never otherwise see if we just were going from destination to destination. I have not included any Interstates in the theme as most do not provide easy access to the smaller places off the beaten path. As others have said (including Charles Kuralt) you could drive across the country on any of those roads and at every exit you have to read a sign to figure out where you are, the chains are all lined up across the country at every junction. 

We have been in Newport before and have taken time to catch up with shopping and clean up after a week with no water or sewer hookups. This morning we had an unwanted excitement when the water heater failed. I immediately called Gary at Precision Temp and while waiting for his response the heater resumed working. His diagnoses, when he called, was a glitch that caused a lockout which was unlocked when shutting off the water.  I asked Gary how much longer I could rely on his being there he said through 2019.  And so it goes. We moved to another site in the park for 2 more nights.

We have just secured a place for 2 nights at Fort Stevens where the Ruelens, also from Jojoba Hills, are volunteering giving tours. We are looking forward to seeing them. This trip is beginning to look like visits with friends as we go. Still have a couple of friends to see further along and then family in Vancouver BC.